The Dusty Years

In “State of Electronics” this week, we look at the early years of “Electronics Retailing”. “The Dusty Years” is about the struggle for early hobbyists in the field of electronics, in sourcing components. It follows on from their initial steps in scavenging for parts at the Tip, council pickup days & donation of parts by looking at how new parts were sourced pre 1970. Early electronics stores were mostly over the counter experiences, served by “dusty” people and old school professionalism. To the young enthusiast, these early retail experiences were intimidating and inefficient but were quite literally their only choices. “If you couldn’t find or swap, you had to go to the shop” says Ian O’Toole. While Disposal and Surplus stores fuelled some creative minds with opportunity, the overall retail experience was seen as pretty bleak prior to the 1970’s. Mostly, the retailing of electronics after the second world war was based around Radio and then TV, and was geared towards the trade and not hobbyists. At the beginning of the 1970’s however, a retail revolution was beginning to form in Australia, that made the careers of Dick Smith, Gary Johnston and others.

October 22, 2015October 24, 2015

The Story So Far

RECAP ON THE BEGINNING

You may of read for the last number of years, Karl has been working hard on this new project, officially called “State of Electronics”. It is concerned with the history, development and future of the Australian Electronics Design and Manufacturing Industry. Partly fuelled by his own interests in Electronics, the documentary investigates the life cycle of an industry – how an industry is born, how it develops and then how it goes into decline. It’s a subject that can apply to many forms of industries.

Junk_Electronics4

There is now a long list of interviews with many of the people who helped create the Electronics Design & Manufacturing industry in Australia as well as those who are very active within it still today. The documentary will highlight many of the individuals who tinker in their back sheds designing and building innovative electronic devices, large & small scale manufacturers, Repairers, Component Suppliers, Design houses, Technicians, Businessmen and Woman, futurists, Hackers and Organisations with the sole purpose of showing a worldwide audience the state of the Australian Electronics Industry.

The format is driven by interviews that are like “Discussions”. The topics vary from how people became involved with electronics as a child, how they developed their careers and then how they changed the world around them with innovation, good business sense etc. However, as with any good story, there is a darker side also. The Documentary is investigating the decline of the industry also. Through both economic and political change, the Electronics Industry is constantly undergoing change. World economic problems as well as technological advancements have meant the end of an era in certain sectors of the Industry, leaving jobs at risk or making them extinct! However, not everything is of doom and gloom. The documentary will also highlight individuals and companies that have been able to break through the difficulties and find their feet on a worldwide platform, delivering state of the art products and innovation.

The documentary to date has been entirely self-funded along with the generous time interviewees have given up for their interviews. Karl has decided to release some of the documentary as short episodes. They are currently being aired on youtube in the hope of raising more awareness for this little explored subject in Australia and to perhaps find an avenue to fund future releases and the full length documentary.

To date he has been fortunate to film and interview: Andy Gelme, Andrew Greatbatch, Andrew Griffiths, Dr Bill Petrski, Campbell Bickerstaff, Claire Gervasoni, Dr Chris Nicol, Dr Chris Roberts, Colin Mitchell, Dave L Jones, David Demant, Dick Smith, Doug Ford, Eugene Ruffolo, Gary Johnston, Geoff Holden, Professor Graeme Clark, Grant Petty, Graeme Hood, Ian Debenham, Ian O’Tool, Ian McClean, J. Matthew Pryor, Jonathan Oxer, Jurij Semkiw, Kay Thorne, Kevin Poulter, Leo Simpson, Lorayne Branch, Matthew Connell, Mike Osborne, Owen Hill, Dr Peter Thorne, Petar Atanackovic, Stephan Jones and The late John Spencer with many more to come.

More to follow on computers, education, technology of the future and much much more.

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015

Getting Started

“State of Electronics – Getting Started”

This is the first actual episode and looks at how everyone got started in electronics, how curiosity began in a life long passion.

Future episodes will cover a large number of topics including early pioneers such as Henry Sutton & Father Shaw, Telegraphy and Early Communications in Australia, AWA and Government Involvement in an Industry, Lifting the Tariffs, Valves to Transistors, Integrated Circuits and Early Computing, CSIRAC, Hobby Electronics and it’s Decline, The Rise of the Maker Movement, Education and Electronics, The Role of the Magazines, The Bionic Ear, Aerospace Electronics, Silanna Semiconductor, e-Waste and its Consequences, e-Waste and Possible Solutions, Electronic Medical Innovations in Australia, the Future of Electronics to mention just a few.

I am putting the word out that I am quite short of images, particularly about early electronics (telegraphy, Radio, Television as well as early prototypes of Blackbox Flight recorder, Pacemaker, Ultrasound, Australian manufacturing of electronics, AWA, Over the horizon radar, CSIRO, early computing and development in Australia. The topics are broad I realise but if you think you have something that you might be able to share that would be very much appreciated. In the meantime, We are continuing to search for images via WikiMedia, Australian National Archives, Universities and elsewhere, however many of these organisations now charge money for the right to use an image which we simply can’t afford. If you are able to assist us, please contact us.

December 14, 2010September 9, 2015

RESEARCH

THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONICS IN AUSTRALIA!

Hello to all. My Blog has been quiet of late, simply due to the immense task of my current project! Now that my documentary covers the history of technological development in Australia, the task of researching information has been all consuming! I don’t think I realised just how big this project was going to get when I started but now that it’s underway, I’m fully devoting what spare time I have, into the documentary series.

I have had to go back to the beginning, when Australia was’t even federated, to understand how the development of an industry took place. As I have mentioned before, the beginning of “Electronics” in Australia for me begins with the introduction of the Telegraph in 1854. It’s interesting to note that Telegraphy is essentially a “digital” form of electronics and quickly spread, creating a “web” of lines across the nation. Some that I have interviewed called it the “Victorian Internet” which is apt considering that Telegraphy started in Victoria first with the first poles going in between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853. ribbing aside, the uptake of this early form of communication in Australia was swift and heralded an amazing era. The relevance of the early adoption of technology and the spread of Telegraphy across Australia has many parallels with Australia’s current National Broadband Network (NBN) plan, which is fascinating to me.

My documentary seeks to showcase this early era by collating a series of conversations on camera and presenting them in a linear fashion along the timeline. Many of the incredible innovations that followed produced some of the most influential Companies of Australia’s short history! So much so that “Government” and these influential Companies are so inextricably bound that they may as well be considered the same thing! That’s why to understand the “State of Electronics” in Australia, you need to understand the “History of Electronics” in Australia. A good example of this influence is that of AWA (Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd). As mentioned in my previous Blog entry, their influence in Australia was immense for about 60 years and helped shape Government policy, create a Radio industry, create a TV industry, create a Research & Development ethos, setup Telecommunications in general, strategic development of niche areas of the industry, and train a vast number of individuals to become tech savvy! AWA’s demise as major player shouldn’t be immediately relegated to the history books as much of that companies legacy is still being felt today. Indeed, the court case surrounding the demise of that Company is still in progress from what I understand.

Site of the Marconi Companies test transmissions from Pt Lonsdale Victoria to Devenport Tasmania 1906

So far I have interviewed a large list of people both in Sydney and Melbourne. Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Johnston (Jaycar/Electus Distribution), Matthew Connell (Chief Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), Ian Debenham (former Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), Campbell Bickerstaff (Curator the Powerhouse Museum Sydney), David Demant (Senior Curator Museum Victoria), Ian oToole (Curator Kurrojong Radio Museum), Stephen Jones(VJ, Computer Historian & Author), Clare Gervasoni (Curator University of Ballarat) and Graeme Hood (Electronics Engineer Lecturer University of Ballarat). This list is by no means complete and is in addition to the following previously interviewed subjects: Dick Smith, Andrew Greatbatch, Peter Atanackovic, Bill Petrski, Owen Hill, Eugene Ruffolo, Andrew Griffiths, Matthew Pryor, David L Jones, Leo Simpson, Doug Ford, Andy Gelme, Jon Oxer, Grant Petty and Chris Nicol. In addition to that, I have filmed Australia’s first Computer CSIRAC, the Kurronjong Radio Museum collection, Silanna Semiconductor’s cleanroom and Fab plant, Blackmagic Designs factory, Observant’s assembly area, Hanna Print’s “Silicon Chip” printing line, and many, many individual labs and workspaces. It’s certainly been incredibly interesting to me and I think will be interesting to quite a wide variety of people when the documentary series is complete.

In recent weeks, I have been deeply involved in research. Each interview takes an enormous effort to research, organise into questions and then formulate a plan as to how those answer are to be included into the documentary timeline. The style I’m attempting to go with is very much driven by “Conversation”. My interviewed subjects are intercut to deliver information to the audience in both a factual and hopefully at times, “light hearted” manner! My original question is then removed leaving only the conversation in it’s place. So as each interview is researched, a constant eye needs to be kept on the Edit timeline to see what’s missing in terms of the story telling, key explanations of electronic terms and processes, historically important figures and so forth! Basically I’m threading the “Conversations” of the many into an informative ride in history, without the help of a narrator, graphics or interviewer. It’s a giant jigsaw puzzle that is both fun and daunting to put together!

This week I have quite a few more interviews planned and as a result the Edit on the project has had to slow down. On the bright side, the documentary will be quite detailed and I believe the only one of it’s kind, showcasing Individuals and Companies that have or are currently innovating in Australia. I’m very much looking forward to updating both the current Trailer and more information about the project as soon as possible, so keep checking this Blog for further updates. Many thanks for your patients! Cheers!